Identification of human faces using either near infrared or visible light is becoming common place for augmented reality applications, biometric identification, surveillance, and more. One major limitation to using camera images for identification is the need for homogenous and ample lighting conditions. When the lighting of the face is coming from a single direction (such as a side lamp), however, the ability to see the geometric and biometric features is compromised and renders identification less effective. A common method to manage this case is to alter the camera's gain, exposure, or gamma levels to brighten or sharpen the dimly lit sections of the image or darken the washed out sections of the image. These methods do not work when half the face is bright and the other half is dark. In that case, a face is often not detected at all rendering the identification process useless.